On Mozart: A Paean for Wolfgang - Hardcover

Burgess, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 039559510X ISBN 13: 9780395595107

Publisher: Ticknor and Fields, 1991

Synopsis

The author uses an imaginary conversation to pay tribute to Mozart on the bicentennial of his death, describing his contributions to the Enlightenment, discussing the phenomenon of a prodigy, and speculating as to future works Mozart might have written

About this title

From Library Journal:

Burgess, the acclaimed author of such works as A Clockwork Orange ( LJ 2/15/63), puts his considerable writing talents to work conjuring up vivid images in prose and poetry, all revolving around his esteem for Mozart. The book begins with a celestial conversation about Mozart's music involving Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Prokofiev, Sir Arthur Bliss, and Richard Wagner. It is followed by an opera libretto on Mozart's life with intermission dialogs that include Antonio Rossini and Stendahl, Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin. A prose fantasy in the form of the great G-minor symphony, and a film script that places the author among the various historical characters complete this most unusual tribute to Mozart. A delightful--if off the wall--variation on this year's most popular artistic theme.
- Timothy J. McGee, Univ. of Toronto
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Burgess, a composer before he turned to writing, worships Mozart with a tinge of envy, to which he himself alludes in a closing essay. While recognizing Mozart as the supreme musical genius, he also finds it necessary to observe that Mozart "may not have the complex humanity of Shakespeare." This witty, freewheeling homage, more divertimento than symphony, opens with the shades of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Wagner squabbling up in heaven. Burgess includes an opera libretto starring Wolfgang himself, fragments of a film script, an ill-conceived prose-poem based on Mozart's Fortieth Symphony, a schizoid dialogue between the author's divided self ("Anthony" vs. "Burgess") and additional celestial dithering by Henry James, Gershwin, Salieri and Schoenberg. The mystery of the composer's genius is neither illuminated nor enhanced by this dazzling confection.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ticknor and Fields
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 039559510X
• ISBN 13: 9780395595107
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160